Disembarkation testing in Vancouver

[Buckeye10640]

Princess now states we are responsible for our own Covid testing  at disembarkation to fly home to the US same day. We have 1pm flights so not alot of time given they are saying arrive at least 3 hours early due to staff shortages and long lines at YVR.  We do have the proctored eMed tests we can use on board. But if needed what is the closest/quickest place to be tested at disembarkation? Thanks

[Enzma]

Some options just outside port enterence exit in front of Fairmont hotel or at airport itself

[Fouremco]

HAL has just announced the same thing. All testing facilities are going to be very busy, and eMed or similar testing seems to be the way to go.

[lderochi]

Yep. We have, I think, 8 eMed tests that are not expired (we panicked a while back)! Hmmmm. wonder what the going rate on the ship will be for one of those kits. 😂

[quickrate]

Will we need to be tested if we are leaving Vancouver on the train to Seattle?

Pat

[Dismomx5]

42 minutes ago, quickrate said:

Will we need to be tested if we are leaving Vancouver on the train to Seattle?

Pat

As I understand it, no test required for land crossings, merely air, so no, I don’t believe you need to be tested for train travel. 

[Buckeye10640]

1 hour ago, quickrate said:

Will we need to be tested if we are leaving Vancouver on the train to Seattle?

Pat

Is the train running again?

[Fouremco]

31 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Is the train running again?

Yes, according to the website they are running again.

[david,Mississauga]

12 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Yes, according to the website they are running again.

 

What I see on their website is four buses a day. I checked 10 dates at random as far away as October and there wasn't a train on any of them.

 

  I have read that Amtrak has been running test trains to and from Vancouver so there must be a plan to reinstate service at some point, but it doesn't appear to be imminent.

Edited May 6, 2022 by david,Mississauga
typo

[Fouremco]

29 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

What I see on their website is four buses a day. I checked 10 dates at random as far away as October and there wasn't a train on any of them.

 

  I have read that Amtrak has been running test trains to and from Vancouver so there must be a plan to reinstate service at some point, but it doesn't appear to be imminent.

Thank you, I stand corrected. When I checked for trains running today, this is what I saw:

 

While the 5:30 AM departure shows a bus icon and "Amtrak Thruway Connecting Service", the remaining departures all show a train icon. I was under the mistaken impression that these departures were in fact by train.

 

 

[pattycruisealot21]

22 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Princess now states we are responsible for our own Covid testing  at disembarkation to fly home to the US same day. We have 1pm flights so not alot of time given they are saying arrive at least 3 hours early due to staff shortages and long lines at YVR.  We do have the proctored eMed tests we can use on board. But if needed what is the closest/quickest place to be tested at disembarkation? Thanks

There is a clinic that is actually right next to the cruise ship terminal in Vancouver which is soo convenient!! Here is the link  https://covid-medical.ca/covid-19-test-book-online/  It's located in the Vancouver Convention Centre, I booked my test online but I heard that they also accept walk-ins. Prices are also pretty decent! Hope it helps!! 🙂

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

While the 5:30 AM departure shows a bus icon and "Amtrak Thruway Connecting Service", the remaining departures all show a train icon. I was under the mistaken impression that these departures were in fact by train.

I would have thought exactly the same thing. Different logo, different mode of transportation.

[quickrate]

4 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Is the train running again?

We have tickets booked so I hope so!

Pat

[david,Mississauga]

11 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Thank you, I stand corrected. When I checked for trains running today, this is what I saw:

 

While the 5:30 AM departure shows a bus icon and "Amtrak Thruway Connecting Service", the remaining departures all show a train icon. I was under the mistaken impression that these departures were in fact by train.

 

 

 

That part of Amtrak's site is certainly confusing. Why they would use a train icon for a bus is something only Amtrak can know.  What I was looking at is the booking section which makes it clear.

[martincath]

On 5/6/2022 at 10:56 AM, quickrate said:

We have tickets booked so I hope so!

Pat

Check your ticket status on the website - at least one other person on these boards was able to book train tickets which Amtrak a) cancelled, and b) did not inform them about having cancelled! I've also encountered days when the website said they had trains available after a certain date, only for the site to change within days back to all-bus-service.

 

At this point, using the wrong icon seems entirely within reason for how crappy the Amtrak site is! Handy tidbit of info is that all Thruway buses use a 4 digit service number whereas trains only use 3 digits... much easier to compare the service number length than which icon , especially on a small screen.

[quickrate]

Thank you for the advice! Will check into it and make sure our ticket is valid.

Pat

[david,Mississauga]

The resumption of Amtrak train service between Vancouver and Seattle has been postponed again. December is the target date.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/amtrak-seattle-vancouver-postponed-1.6453663

 

[Fouremco]

I had no idea that personnel issues were behind the failure to restart. Not an encouraging sign.

[gnome12]

On 5/14/2022 at 6:49 PM, david,Mississauga said:

The resumption of Amtrak train service between Vancouver and Seattle has been postponed again. December is the target date.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/amtrak-seattle-vancouver-postponed-1.6453663

 

Amtrak has announced a resumption in September. 
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/amtrak-cascades-train-vancouver-seattle-portland-return-september